The only opinions you'll find on my blog are my own. The products I use, for the most part, are ones that I purchase myself unless I indicate otherwise. They are all products which I enjoy using and would recommend. I do participate in affiliate programs with Amazon.com, Blick Art Supplies, Ellen Hutson LLC, Gina K, Sizzix, Scrapbook.com, and Simon Says Stamp, and affiliate links are used whenever possible. Purchasing products by clicking on my affiliate links costs you nothing extra and helps support my artistic endeavors and this blog, and I thank you.

January 29, 2015

Okay, so I ran out of current stuff that I had photographed to post, and instead, I'm posting something I made for my son's tutor. He has study groups for ADHD kids which my son attends, and at one point, I offered to swap him handmade cards for his fee. He really loved the cards and recently asked me to make him some specifically for encouragement/congratulations as that is really the sort of card he uses the most in barter.

All in all, I made 10 cards for him and gave him some of the ones I had made with a Paper Pumpkin kit. This was fun, as I was able to pull out retired schtuff and non-SU! schtuff and just be creative with things I had in my stash. And I thought, why not have an occasional post where I show what I did with retired schtuff?

For this card, I used the retired set "You Rule" along with retired paper Soho Subway (which I bought a few packs on the clearance rack because this is one of my all-time favorites) and even threw some Hodgepodge Hardware on there and my favorite stitched grosgrain ribbon. Lookie:

MOJUS!!! (GOJUS! in a manly way!) (YILM!) Makes me wish we had that hodgepodge schtuff back along with some more manly papers like these...sigh...already waiting for that new catalog to see what's coming next!

I'll be taking some photos of my class projects this month tomorrow so that I will have something to post that is current, but let me know if you like this new blog feature. All I know is I keep the things I love best when they retire, but the pressure to create with only new stuff means the old just sits there, and it's such a waste, you know? Especially if you have something old that goes with something new really perfectly!

January 22, 2015

I finally had a chance to play with this set, and I did what I so often do when confronted by a flower that has a particular name (not just amorphous blob flowers). I looked it up to see what colors it usually comes in. Because I like to be real, yo?

And, of course, I found that this flower is actually a water plant, something I had vaguely realized before, but every single card I have seen done with this stamp doesn't show it that way. People are making it look like a tulip, which it does somewhat resemble. So, naturally,I wanted to be different and show this as an actual lotus in its natural environment. I also saw that it is usually mostly white with some pink highlights, maybe a little purple.

I figured the easiest way to get a white flower with colored highlights was to stamp the first two layers (unlike regular multi-step stamping, you start with the darkest layer first because these are photopolymer and you can see through them, making it easier to start with the darkest one) using WIsteria Wonder and Strawberry Slush, and then do the last layer with Versamark, clear emboss it, then use that as a resist and add the water around it.

The first attempt looked terrible. For one, because the flower was white, there were no shadows on the flower, and so it didn't look right. And for the second, some colors get more intense when they are covered with clear EP, and the Strawberry Slush was way too bright. I redid it, adding some soft shadows with a blender pen and Smoky Slate ink, and stamping off the Strawberry slush on the second layer. Once it was heat embossed, it was time to add the water.

I did this by sponging Pool Party on, adding ripples with the matching marker, some soft shadows with the blender pen and Wisteria Wonder ink, and finally some highlights with the Signo Uniball white gel pen. When it was done, it needed barely anything to finish it off, so I went with some tiny pearls in one corner, and there was no more to be done. Lookie:

GOJUS! (YILM!) More views:

And the inside is pretty nice too.

You can get this set absolutely free by buying $50 worth of merchandise from my webstore! This promotion ends on March 31, 2015. Click on any picture below to go there:

January 20, 2015

This is actually the first thing I made when I got my new schtuff last month, and I tore it apart more than once trying to get it better. I'm still not completely sure I did, but I'm not messing with it anymore, so it's done. I decided to make a retirement card, something that seems to be in limited supply up on Etsy judging by the number of hits I get on the one that I have in my shop. Lookie:

GOJUS! (YILM!) I thought that the bike under the tree spoke of carefree, happy times, and to me, retirement is all that (or is supposed to be!) More views:

You can buy any of the schtuff I used to make this card by clicking on any picture below:

January 18, 2015

This is the last of the Valentines I made over Christmas break, and now it's time to move on to something else. I do have a lot of things I got with my preorder that I haven't even had time to touch yet so I'm going to be working on new stuff this weekend.

One of the things I thought to do with this set was embossing resist, and when I combined it with one of my favorite color combinations for Valentine's, I love the way it turned out!

GOJUS!!! (YILM!) More views:

I colored the rhinestones with the Cherry Cobbler Blendabilities.

I love the way the scribble stamp looks floral when it is tiled for a background.

You can buy everything I used for this card by clicking on any of the pictures below:

January 16, 2015

I had a vision for this card, and I decided to use the color scheme from the Birthday Bash DSP in the Occasions catalog because I loved the bright colors and thought this particular pattern would look great for a fishy card. I also figured Calypso Coral was "pink" and so it would qualify. Alas, CC reads as an orange in this particular combination, but like I said, who said that Valentines have to be pink? That's my story, and I'm stickin' to it! At any rate, the card turned out FAB. Lookie:

STINKIN' CUTE! (YILM!) More views:

I colored the whole thang with Blendabilities.

I put Crystal Effects over the glasses on the one fish and and the little bubbles to add some extra shine. The cool thing about Blendabilities and the Memento Tuxedo Black pad is they don't run or blur if you put Crystal Effects on top, unlike water-based markers or ink pads!

You can buy anything I used to make this card (and get some for free from now through March 31st with each $50 purchase) just by clicking on the links below. Of note, the links for the Blendabilities are the regular ones which are not the item numbers for the free Sale-A-Bration markers, which you can find in your SAB brochure:

January 14, 2015

I made this the other day...well, actually more than a week...or maybe even TWO weeks ago, but I finally managed to get a picture that wasn't taken in the basement. Yes, another Valentine card, or at least a card that could be used as a Valentine. After I got my new schtuff, I found I had bought so much that it was hard to know where to start. So I concentrated on one thing for a while which was Valentines. I need them for the shop, and I don't like to put them there until you all get a chance to see them, so there you have it. I've also been working on a lot of custom orders, including that Wood You Be Mine card which generated orders for two more after the original card sold, and I'm still working on Polar Express cards, of which I have made 5 so far, sold 4, sent one to my BFF Wendy (!!!), and have an order for 3 more. Not too much time to play with new schtuff, alas, but I should be all caught up this weekend. And since my next Big Workshop is scheduled for the end of February, I need to start figuring out what we are making!

ANYWAY, what inspired this card is the Sale-A-Bration DSP, Best Year Ever, which has this great spatter pattern in it. Whenever I see paper that looks like it was painted, the first thing I think of is overstamping it with the Hardwood background stamp. I decided to stick with the colors from the DSP and this card was born. I just love it (and, yes, I love myself or YILM! for those who don't know what my little acronym means!) Lookie:

GOJUS! (YILM!) Yup, it's very shabby chic (which apparently is a trademark of some furniture designer, and you are not allowed to use it on Etsy, can you imagine that?) When I put this card up there, I will have to say "Cottage Chic" instead. Pfffft!

More details:

I love the Banner Banter set! Getting all these elements arranged just so on the card front was really the hardest part of this card.

And this is the very FIRST time I have used the Simply Pressed clay! I have had it since we were able to order it on the preorder in 2013, and it has sat in my stash ever since. I didn't want to dink around with coloring the clay, so instead I just sponged some soft color over the finished rose instead. It had been so long since this product came out that I had to hunt for a few hints on how to get the clay out of the mold once you get it shaped, and sticking it in the freezer for 15 minutes really worked! I'm going to have to use this schtuff more now!

As usualy, you can buy anything I used to make this by clicking on any link below:

January 12, 2015

My kids are too old to need Valentine cards for classmates, but honestly, I could not resist this set! The little fox, the fishies, and the pirate...just had to have them!

This is the first card I made, and of course, I pulled out the Blendabilities to color the little fox:

STINKIN' CUTE! (YILM!) We don't have a fox color in Blendabilities, but that doesn't mean that we can't combine colors to create new combinations! I used the lightest color from Cherry Cobbler combined with the lightest color from Pumpkin Pie and just colored one over the top of the other. Then I used the darker shades of Cherry Cobbler to shade Mr. Fox! More views:

You can buy everything I used to make this card, and you can even get some of it free with a $50 purchase. Of note, the links for the Blendabilities are the regular ones which are not the item numbers for the free Sale-A-Bration markers, which you can find in your SAB brochure:

January 07, 2015

I knew, as soon as I saw this charming gentleman on the big screen at the Occasions catalog premiere, that he would be coming to live at my house. Let's face it, coming up with a valentine that is masculine enough for the man in your life can be a challenge. Rest assured, this set is so masculine you can almost...err...smell it. Lookie:

MOJUS! (GOJUS in a masculine way!) (YILM!) I love the Adventure Bound Designer Series Paper Stack with this set! More details:

Yes, I'm insane. I carefully cut this dude out and popped him up over the background I created by sponging over a mask created with the scallop circle punch. While his shirt was done with two-step stamping, the rest of him was colored with Blendabilities.

Yup, I also cut out the saw. Told you I'm insane. It was also colored with Blendabilites and then the greeting was stamped on top. Easy peasy since this is a photopolymer set, making lining things up a breeze!

Even the inside was easy to make awesome! I colored the stamp with markers, which I had not attempted to do before with a photopolymer set, but it worked quite well!

You can buy anything I used to make this by clicking on the photos below! And remember Sale-A-Bration has started, so this is a great time to get Blendabilities absolutely free with a $50 order. Just consult your SAB brochure carefully as the numbers to get the Blendabilities as an SAB item are different than the ones to order them as an item you would pay for (the ones shown below are the latter). All the Blendabilities in the big catalog except for the Skin Tone Assortment can be selected as a free SAB item. The ones in the Occasions catalog cannot be selected as a free SAB item.

January 05, 2015

I ordered the Sweetheart punch when it was on sale in the Weekly Deals, and so I figured I should order this set to go with it. I've been having a lot of fun playing with it. Paired with the small heart punch from the Itty Bitty Accents and the Happy Hearts embossing folder, I was able to make something AMAZING!! (YILM!) I was inspired by another project on the cover of the Stampin' Success magazine, which was a framed piece, but I managed to translate it quite successfully into a card. Lookie:

GOJUS!!! (YILM!) More views:

I used glue dots to attach the letters, rolled to make them smaller and a bit more dimensional.

Everything will be available to purchase tomorrow (January 6th!) including the Happy Hearts Textured Impressions Folder which is not pictured below because it wasn't in the product list at These Are My Stamps, which I am sure they will fix very soon, and then I can update this! You can buy anything by clicking on any of the pictures below.